It’s not all lazy days in green pastures—extreme heat and new disease threats are harming cows and, in turn, the dairy industry and global food supply.
Extreme heat is stressing dairy cows worldwide, Time recently reported: “Cows don’t yield as much milk under the stress of scorching temperatures, and arid conditions and storms compound the problem by withering or destroying the grass and other crops they eat.”
“In the U.S. alone, some scientists estimate climate change will cost the dairy industry $2.2 billion per year by the end of the century,” explains Time. “If greenhouse gas emissions remain high, one study estimates that the dairy and meat industries will lose $39.94 billion per year to heat stress by that same date.”
And in India, which is set to overtake China as the world’s most populated country, milk output could fall as much as 25% by 2085.
A new invasive tick-borne disease is killing cattle, too: theileria, part of the malaria family, has rapidly increased in prevalence in the U.S. from as much as 2% to 20% in just two years, reports MIT Technology Review. And we know climate change increases the prevalence of ticks.
All the more evidence of the need to advance animal biotech—like gene editing cattle to better withstand heat with a “slick coat,” ticks to carry less disease, and crops to thrive in heat and drought.
